As our recent coverage of the Iraqi media has amply demonstrated, Iraqis are losing patience with political leaders who, five months after nationwide elections, have yet to form a new government. So what’s the solution? According to columnist Talib Al Saffar of the newspaper Sotal Iraq, the only answer is a presidential system similar to that in the United States. Unfortunately, Talib Al Saffar writes,...

I know that most Americans don’t pay attention to the primaries, but really. Given all the brouhaha over then Sen. Barack Obama’s association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, how can it be that in a matter of weeks we’ve gone from 1-in-5 Americans thinking the President is Muslim to 1-in-4? That’s the latest polling data from TIME; only 1-in-2 think the President is Christian. The others...

After Pamela Geller of the blog Atlas Shrugs posted a clip of excerpts from a speech Imam Feisal Rauf gave in 2005, P.J. Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs warned the media: I would just caution any of you that choose to write on this, that once again you have a case where a blogger has pulled out one passage from a very lengthy speech. If you read the entire speech, you will discover...

Glenn Beck is on a (rancid) roll. If you haven’t already read it, this is of related interest.

Continuing with our global coverage of America’s withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq, this editorial from Spain’s El Pais asserts that Iraq should be a lesson on ‘how easily democratically-elected leaders can unleash a futile tragedy, putting the world on the brink of catastrophe – particularly when inspired by a lethal mix of messianic megalomania and ideological fantasy.’ The...

One good thing about the Koran burning/mosque hating meme that is so dominating conversation is that it is generating additional conversation about organized religion, in general. I recently started thinking about the transition from polytheism to monotheism. Actually, I was thinking about the society and culture of 60-100 CE and consciously realized, for the first time, the uphill battle facing early Christians...

Let Our Fear Be More Accurate by Tina Dupuy Right after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, a dry cleaner’s storefront was vandalized and set ablaze in Modesto, California. The reason? The business was named “French Cleaners.” The French government took a strong anti-war stance regarding our preemptive invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq. They said they would not join the “Coalition of the Willing.”...

‘We know all Muslims are not responsible for 9/11. We know our feelings are not completely rational. But they are our feelings. So we ask you to build your mosque elsewhere, because that is the sensitive thing to do.’

Comments by Iraq’s army chief of staff, that the Iraqi military won’t be ready to protect the country without U.S. assistance until 2020, triggered this angry and sarcastic response from Muhammad al-Ammary of the Iraq News Agency. Continuing with our coverage of the Iraqi reaction to America’s combat troop withdrawal and highlighting the cleavages among the country’s ethnic and sectarian...

Mosquerade Party Raging Moderate, by Will Durst There is only one halfway-decent reason why a mosque should be built two blocks away from Ground Zero in New York. It’s called the First Amendment. Maybe you’ve heard of it: that’s the one that lets pretty much anybody say pretty much anything they want, and yes, that includes worshipping whatever goofy deity they choose. Mohammed. Thor. The Prince of Peace....

Refugees are persons seeking refuge in a foreign country from war or persecution or natural disaster. I have seen the anguish, the fear, the sadness, the total dependence and vulnerability in the faces of hundreds of South Vietnamese refugees. It is a sight, a feeling, an emotion that stays with one forever. It is because of such past experiences that refugees—whether fleeing war or violence; ethnic,...

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s one and only true conservative Republican on their airwaves issued this warning to what he threatened to be his former comrade in arms. I don’t know how much courage it took Joe to make such a pronouncement but it reminds me when conservative Republicans Sens. Hugh Scott and Barry Goldwater marched into the Oval Office and told President Nixon it was time to quit because of the Watergate...

Andy Ostroy in HuffPost:

The incalculable anguish endured by the Iraqi people has not ended with the departure of the bulk of American combat forces, and may well worsen. According to this article by columnist Sabah al Bahraini of Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper, successive governments have facilitated the mass exodus of Iraqis from their land and rendered those that remained ‘easy prey to death by bombing, suicide, massacre...

First – a special note. I am no longer “Elrod” (at least on TMV). I am Aaron Astor and I have been for about 37 years and 2 weeks. Anyway… A few years ago I visited a friend of mine who lived about five blocks north of Ground Zero. He lived in a building with many residents who still suffer from 9/11 syndrome, which is a byproduct of the nasty construction material (including asbestos)...

Here’s the REAL story about the proposed mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero: it’s really a zionist conspiracy…or so some say… How did they find this secret out? I’m already busy enough dominating the news media, running Hollywood and keeping Chinese restaurants open and now it comes out that I’m behind buildling that mosque close to ground zero, too. (Well, at least...

Could it be that Fox News’ Saudi Arabian co-owner helped fund the Imam who’s at the center of the distortion-crammed controversy over the proposed mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero? According to a report, the answer is yes: The second largest shareholder in News Corp. — the parent company of Fox News — has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to causes linked to the imam planning...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Alright – everybody has made their points… SEVERAL DOZEN FREAKING TIMES! How many ways can you call the right intolerant and bigoted? Or refer to the left as Islamofascist sympathizers? Or moan about the degeneration of religious liberty in America? Or warn about creeping Sharia law? Build it. Don’t build it. Move it. Bah! Everyone has an opinion. That opinion has been expressed ad infinitum....

Why All Middle Eastern Politics Can’t Be Reduced Merely to the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Barry Rubin I simply cannot comprehend why so many in the West refuse to see that Arabs can be revolutionaries. It is remarkable that so many who claim to be experts don’t incorporate the idea that Arabs, like other peoples, might dislike their existing societies or be motivated by ideologies claiming to be the...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Living in a ‘Post-Racist’ Society by Tina Dupuy The MSNBC documentary series Lock Up ran a story earlier this month about a Maricopa County Jail inmate charged with identity theft named Cecil Kunkel. The 29-year-old Kunkel has a swastika tattooed on top of his “skinhead.” He’s covered in “white power” slogans and imagery. The only ink-free spot on him is an empty space in the shape of another...

Petula Dvorak at the Washington Post takes us back to 2002, “a year after the Sept. 11 attacks, with the horror and disbelief of that terrible day still very fresh in our minds,” when “right next to the spot where 184 people lost their lives in the Pentagon, the military opened a sanctuary where Islam could be celebrated.” She tells us that this sanctuary is not two blocks away, not...

Continuing with our coverage of the global reaction to the proposed Muslim community center/mosque near Ground Zero in New York, this article by columnist Matthias Gierth of Germany’s Rheinischer Merkur calls for cooler heads and eventual approval of the project, in order to prove al-Qaeda’s claims about the ‘godless West’ wrong’ – and prevent the terrorist group from using...

When Barack Obama became president, he promised to try and change the relationship dynamic between Islam and the west. His goal was to build bridges, lessen hostility, create trust, and generally lower the decibel level of conversation between the two cultures. There can be little argument regarding the president’s goals. The great struggle in which we are engaged against Islamism can only be won if we...